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John Pfaff Lock In Sparknotes

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Crime, Law, Administration of Justice Professor: Kelly McGeever 04/25/18 Topic- Reflection on lock-in by John Pfaff Provide your reflection on the book and argument The justice system in America caused mass incarceration to become overpopulated from the 1970s to 2000. The reason being people were sentenced for more minor crimes which resulted in prisons to become overcrowded. Based on the book Lock In by John Pfaff, the three main reasons causing mass incarceration in America were; long sentences, war and drugs, and prosecutors. Pfaff mentions that most people are in prison for non- violent drug offendes. According to Lock In by John Pfaff, "there are 200,000 people make up only about 16 percent of state prisoners, but that number almost …show more content…

Pfaff mentions the prison population is full of drug crimes while other people shouldn't be there. The prisons population would reduce if there wasn’t a lot of a drug crimes offender there. According to Lock In “war and drugs have fuelled tougher responses to all sorts of crimes, including those not related to drug use or drug trafficking, this indirect effect could matter even if the direct impact of war is less than believed” (Pfaff,2017, P22). Most people sell drugs to earn an income because there is no employment in their neighborhoods. A person who is on probation has to sell drug because that is the only job available to them at the moment. Prosecutors have the power to send offenders away which allows them to make harsh decisions. They offer plea bargains to offenders which often will enable them to do time in prison. Pfaff stated that "as long as prosecutors simply use the tough laws as a bargaining chip, not real punishment, legislators can reap the political benefits of looking tough on crime while avoiding difficult financial decisions" (Pfaff, 2017, P136). Prosecutors offer a plea bargain to get rid of cases quickly and not allow offenders to go to trial because they might receive more prison …show more content…

It's going to be hard because the standard story put the shocking story out which are not essential problems facing prison population. People more likely to gravitate that story rather than the story that could help the country. According to lock in, “in a survey of registered US voters by the Pew Research Center in early 2016, 44 percent of all residents said they believed that “reforming the criminal justice system should be a top priority”; the percentage rose to 73 percent for black respondents and 48 percent for Hispanics" (Pfaff,2017, P5). People have faith in reforming the justice system. This survey was carried to see if people are satisfied with the justice system and have the voter’s responses that they believe it should reform. One of the major steps toward changing the justice system is to ban private prison because people are benefiting from

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After conducting some research I have reached the conclusion that drug offenders are the population in which could be more successfully controlled and rehabilitated in less secure correctional alternatives. There are a couple different beneficial aspects to transferring drug offenders out of prisons and into programs. The first is that is saves money while also being more effective. When you place an inmate into a program that is designed to help them with their specific problem your results improve. The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment’s final report on NTIES noted that “In summary, we observed a pattern of substantially reduced alcohol and drug use in every type of treatment modality, with reductions typically between one-third and two-thirds

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The prisoners that have struggled with drugs are place in a pre-released program to prepare them for their release. I think the justice system hands are tied a little bit to maintain the prisons and community well

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On the state level the statistic isn’t nearly as high but still shocking to read as drug crimes alone are the cause for half of the rise in the states jail systems. There has been a 1,100 percent increase in the population of inmates at either a state or federal level serving time for drug charges. Alexander points out that 31 million people have been arrested for drug crimes since the beginning of the War on Drugs. I do wonder if this number is individual people as opposed to repeat offenders but either way, this large of a number clearly signifies another issue in the United States besides the massively disproportional population arrest rates, a drug problem that clearly has not been fixed. Instead of helping people in communities through community service or keeping tabs on them with probation we have been locking them into prisons at four times the rate we used

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Janet Vargas SOC 370 Pros and Cons of Plea Bargaining Many criminal cases are resolved outside the court in which they will have both sides come to an agreement. An agreement made in a criminal case between a prosecutor and its defendant, before reaching a trial is a plea bargain. The prosecutor offers an opportunity to the defendant to plead guilty. By agreeing to plead guilty to a crime the defendant would in exchange get a prosecutor’s promise to convince the judge to reduce the sentence.

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This preconceived notion could not be farther from the truth. In reality, these reform movements are idiotically placing a bandaid over the tremendous issue that the prison system is. An imbalance of reforms between women and men, unrestrained sexual abuse in women’s prisons, and tyrannical gender roles are just three of countless examples of how prison reform movements only create more misfortune and fail to provide any real solution to worsening prison conditions. Perhaps instead of conjuring up additional ideas on how to reform prisons, America’s so-called democratic society should agree upon abolishing prisons as a whole. This being said, it is crucial to identify ongoing issues in today’s society, understand how they contribute to unlawful behavior, and seek a solution.

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It is no secret that the US relies extremely heavily on our prison systems to hold citizens that are not currently properly following rules set forth by the US government. The US currently has twenty five percent of the world's prisoner population, despite only having five percent of the world's total population (Incarceration Nation). This clearly displays a problem within our prison system and a disconnect from the values which our country claims to have as our prison rates are currently most comparable to North Korea (Incarceration Nation). The US prison system is in desperate need for reforms to better rehabilitate prisoners and be more ethically responsible towards them; the US could have a positive effect on the treatment of our prisoners

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Those who find themselves sentenced to time in a penitentiary, jail, or prison are at risk of either being broken or strengthened by the time they spend behind bars. There is a great debate of whether or not the prison system in the United States is positive or negative. The following will briefly highlight the positives, negatives, and possible alternatives for our nation's prison system. First, there is a long list of negatives that the prison system in America brings. The prison system is filled with crime, hate, and negativity almost as much as the free world is.

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The bureau is constantly trying to improve its treatment for inmates, lowering the number of new inmates, while deceasing the number of inmates who return to prison life. Programs both inside and outside of the federal prison system are conducted in an attempt to understand what is the driving force behind crime. As mentioned previously, one of the largest criminal offenses for inmate incarceration is illegal drug activity, either its manufacture, possession, purchase, sale, or use. Approximately fifty-one percent of inmates are incarcerated due to illegal drug activity. Studies are even conducted to determine how race and ethnicity play a social factor into incarceration due to illegal drug activity.

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America's prisons are overpopulated and the population is growing each year with increased drug activities. Low level drug offenders, comprised of 39 percent of the overall prison population. In the article " Department of Justice low-level drug offenders: a defense perspective" defines low-level drug offender as one who has been convicted drug trafficking offense but has no prior commitment, history of violence, known involvement of sophisticated criminal activity, significant "public risk factor," and pending detainer (Katz 28) . This group isn't hardened criminals and don't live a life of crime; rather they are motivated by profit. They are less likely to return to prison when compared to hardened criminals.

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In 1972, former President Richard Nixon made his infamous statements regarding crime and drug abuse. In this speech, he declared a war on crime and drugs and intended to decrease the number of people using drugs and the amount of crimes that were committed. Since this declaration, incarceration rates in the U.S. have gone up by 500%, even though the amount of crime happening has gone down. One of the reasons why I feel our rates have risen, is because sometimes, we put people in jail when they don’t need to be there in the first place.

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Only 18.3% (337,882) were for the sale or manufacture of a drug” (p. 23). Therefore, the individuals who are likely to enter the already overcrowded prisons may be users and the actual not distributors themselves. Thus, prison space that is intended to be reserved for murders and sexual predators is instead being occupied by substance

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Thesis: It is very important for the sake of Americans tax dollars that we change the way that prisons are run and increase the productivity of inmates so when they are released from jail they are ready to be a productive member in society and have the confidence to achieve new goals. Introduction: Day after day, millions of inmates sit in jail doing nothing productive with their lives. We are paying to house inmates that may not even have a good reason to be there. For example, drug offenders are being kept with murderers and other violent offenders.

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Is the American Justice System fair? This question has caused many controversies amongst Americans. Every year, stories emerge that serve as a reminder that the American Justice system, means injustice for many. The real question is who is sent to prison and who walks free? A question that many would like to believe is properly answered by judges, jurors, and attorneys.

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2. The Prison-Industrial Complex introduced by Eric Schlosser, is a theory that claims that the prison system is constructed by political pressures, economic requirements, and commercial demands. The prison system has been continuously growing in the last three decades, regardless of the actual need for it. The PIC is specifically harmful to the most vulnerable of people, such as homeless people, mentally ill, etc. The PIC does more harm, than good, therefore, it is a poor system all-around.

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isn’t the only thing people believe needs to change; the reasons for arrests have been criticized by many. America incarcerates more citizens for drug related crimes than any other place in the world. Of the roughly 200,000 in federal prison, 52% are being held for drug crimes and only 8% are for violent crimes, such as: murder, assault, and robbery (Waldman, 2013). Many believe that the “War on Drugs” must become less aggressive because of its large contribution to the prison population. The distribution of prisoners by race has also raised concern among Americans.

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